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The diet is being tried out on the beaches looking over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong

The group has a very particular set of practices, beginning by removing their shoes and putting on ‘pinhole lenses’ that they believe concentrate the sun’s qualities.

Then the dieters stare straight into the sun, waiting for a timer to alert them that their dieting ‘session’ has ended.

Starting of on day one by staring for ten seconds, each day participants add an additional ten seconds to the time they gaze into the fiery orb until they eventually reach forty-four minutes per session.

Some choose to wrap light fabric around their faces, although this is not a requirement of the diet.

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Dieters have been going down to the water's edge twice a day

The underlying belief of this diet is that by staring directly into the sun, the fitness enthusiast absorbs solar energy - which they say is an acceptable substitute to caloric energy obtained from food.

Practitioners believe that this process also improves the quality of sleep they get at night and increases their visual acuity.

But physicians in Hong Kong - and around the globe - have stressed that this diet has no positive benefits, aside from participants getting some extra Vitamin D - which you can get plenty of without staring directly into the sun.

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The diet may not help you lose weight, but it WILL damage your eyes

Instead, dieters using this weird method are going to lose their sight rather than some weight.

Rather than being just an old wives tale, staring at the sun does damage your eyesight - and could make you go blind.

Many famous scientists and astronomers throughout history, such as Sir Isaac Newton have suffered solar burns to their eyes - a condition that cannot be treated.